


Like Superman

by orphan_account



Category: NSYNC
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-10
Updated: 2010-03-10
Packaged: 2017-10-07 20:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Justin and Joey fight about Superman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like Superman

Joey never admitted it to anyone, but he liked the television show _Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman_. He shouldn't have liked it at all. The show was a betrayal to what the movies portrayed. In the movies, Superman fought a wily Lex Luther armed with kryptonite, he fought three criminal aliens from his own planet. In the show, he fought someone called the Wedding Destroyer, who went around destroying weddings with bombs and fought in a bizarre wedding dress with three inch white heels. He made it a point to let anyone know he thought the show really sucked, just in case they ever had any suspicions.

He watched it compulsively though when it was still on the air, and he has a compilation of the best episodes. During those times when he feels like watching it, it always feels like he's watching porn, because there was the same sense of not wanting to get caught.

He's watched it enough times that there's a weird blurry line that appears at the top because he's rewound it back and forth so many times. He's seen the entire tape enough to know that coincidentally, each episode he taped has a shot of the guy who played Superman shirtless. Whenever that part rolled along, he always felt a tightness in his stomach that he couldn't quite stop.

It was of some comfort that he thought the actor was unconvincing as Superman, because he really didn't want to mix Superman with what he was beginning to think was something sexual. That was just gross.

* * *

 

It's an even bigger secret that the scene he loves to watch the most is one of Lois Lane fainting, and Actor Who Played Superman (since he could never think of the actor as Superman), deprived of super powers, runs to her before she falls to the ground, and he catches her, his hands slipping in that inch of space of air between her body and the hard floor. He lifts her up afterwards and buries his face in her hair.

He always went "whoo" after that scene, partly because it's romantic and he refused to acknowledge it as so, and because his stomach clenched each and every time.

* * *

 

The others understood his fascination with Superman, and made room for its excesses. Justin was the most resistant to it in the beginning though.

"He's lame, Joe. Why not Batman? He's cool! He has Catwoman as an enemy! He has the Bat-arang!" All curly hair and wild limbs, he fought Joey on every point. "The kryptonite thing is so stupid. He can be killed by a green rock. I could throw it at him and kill him."

"Superman is not lame. Batman is. Come on, anyone who dresses up a kid like he dressed up Robin is stupid. And what about that lameass show they had, with Batman in purple? What the hell was that?"

"That's not really Batman, and I never saw those. Besides, what about that crappy TV show with Superman? That was super lame."

"That doesn't count."

"Well, the old Batman doesn't count either then."

"Superman's still better."

"Batman's better."

"Nope."

It was an old argument, and they still had it, but its combative edges have been smoothed out. Whenever they have it now, it's playful in tone, and Joey sometimes agrees because Michelle Pfeiffer was really cool as Catwoman, and a cool villain only works if there's a cool hero to fight.

* * *

 

Whenever Joey was bored, and Justin was receptive, they played a game. They made up the wildest shit about each other, and they had to admit it if the other guessed right. They never made it a point to get anything right and time passed so quickly when they played it, on the bus or backstage.

"Joey, you dye your pubes the same color you dye your hair."

"Justin, you whack off when you look at the mirror."

"Eww," Justin said.

With all the random speculating they had done and not getting anything right, the law of averages was bound to catch up with them.

During a break from NSA, he was at Justin's house because he hadn't had a chance to see it yet. Everything was brand new and shiny, to the marble floors to the comfortable chairs they sat on while having a beer. They started playing their game.

"Justin, you liked New Kids on the Block," Joey said.

Justin blushed a beet red and refused to meet his eyes for a minute before grumbling, "Yeah, I sorta did."

Joey howled with laughter. "Oh man, I can't believe that's right. On first try too!" He looked at Justin, eyebrows wagging. "Who did you like best?"

Justin gulped down some beer before responding, "Joey McIntyre."

Joey leaned back and laughed until tears appeared. Justin, indignant, shot back.

"Yeah, well, I bet you really like that crappy TV Superman! I bet you have a tape you keep watching over and over."

Joey stared at Justin in shock. Justin looked elated for a second but a shamed expression crept on his face soon afterwards.

"Sorry, Joe. Wasn't playing fair there." He hemmed and hawed before finally saying "I sort of caught you watching it one time on the bus, and you kept rewinding parts of it."

"Shit," Joey said.

They stared at the shiny marble floor for a long while, Joey noticing that with the light on a certain angle, the marble looked green. Like dull kryptonite.

"It's not like we murdered someone here, Joe," Justin said, after the silence stretched uncomfortably.

"It's just fucking embarrassing, that's all," Joey said.

"So it's a secret," Justin said. He looked at Joey, his curls a frenzy of gold and brown. "Just between the two of us."

"Yeah," Joey nodded.

Joey didn't really know what to react to, because just as Justin said that it was a secret, the implications of liking Joey McIntyre hit him. And when Justin tentatively laid a hand on his forearm, Joey thought he had the answer.

* * *

 

Secrets between them had long since disappeared after the incident at Justin's house. Justin even watched his tapes of Lois and Clark, and laughed uproariously at the Wedding Destroyer. He even liked the fainting scene because he thought it was a cool shot. Joey felt inexplicably happy about that, even if Justin looked around while they were watching the show in bed and said, "We are sooo gay."

And with secrets went inhibitions. They played a variation of their game in bed sometimes.

"Justin, I bet you would love it if I went caveman on you right now."

Justin blushed, always a telltale sign. Joey went to the foot of the bed, grabbed Justin by the ankles and dragged him close so that he sat in between Justin's spread out legs. He put both hands under Justin's ass and lifted until Justin's cock was close to his mouth. Justin stared at him, harshly panting. Joey took all of Justin in one motion, and Justin's hips jerked up uncontrollably, Justin reduced to primal groans and grunts.

Turnabout was fair play.

"Joey, I bet you want me to fuck you long, slow and hard."

He never even bothered with the pretense of denying things, not in this particular arena. "Yeah, that's about right," he said, a crooked smile for Justin's benefit.

So Joey lay on his stomach and raised his hips a few inches off the mattress, and Justin eagerly proved him right. Long. Slow. Hard. Oh yeah, Joey thought.

There were times when it was so good that Joey felt like he was flying.

* * *

 

They were rehearsing one day when Joey wasn't feeling all too well. He felt light headed, as if the world were constantly spinning off its axis. He had already thrown up two times before but none of the others except Justin knew that he wasn't feeling all that great.

"Joey," Justin whispered angrily. "You look bad. Sit this out or I'll make you."

Joey cast Justin a meaningful glance, which Justin didn't appreciate.

"You look sick, man." Justin laid a hand on Joey's forehead and recoiled with shock. "You're burning up. Sit down. I'll get some water."

"Just get the water, okay?"

Justin glared at him, but went off to get water anyway.

Joey ran through the dance steps in his head. He started doing the steps when a major lightheaded spell hit him hard. His head lolled back. He was seeing everything in spinning, glaring blurs.

"Joey, you okay?" Lance or JC? The voices were tinny and harsh.

"Joey!" Justin. He managed to tilt his head to the right, his vision clearing up a little before he felt himself fall back. Justin was running with his hands stretched out, fast as a bullet, straining to catch him. The water bottle dropped with a thud from his hands before rolling away.

Not that Joey had any choice by then, but he let himself fall because he knew there would be a mouth to kiss the top of his head, a voice to whisper his name. He was certain he would never touch the ground.

 

THE END


End file.
